Adventures in Ghana Series 1-4: Discovering Ghanaian Creative Culture

Akwaaba, welcome to my first ever blog post!

October 2011 I was fortunate to visit family in Ghana for the first time as an adult. It is an experience I cherish and one that changed my future trajectory to the journey I intend to share with you in this blog.

During my first trip to Ghana as an adult, I was in awe at the bountiful markets; the diverse colours, of foodstuffs, traditional African dress with a European twist; the delicious smells of food I could only dream of finding the ingredients for in London that would enable me to cook and replicate. Thankfully, my family are awesome cooks.

In the Ashanti Kingdom, we are famous across Ghana, West Africa and worldwide for our diverse beautifully hand crafted goods. In particular I’d like to tell you a little about visiting the area where Kente cloth is made.

In a small town just outside Kumasi; my Auntie and I travelled in two or three tro-tro’s until we reached our destination. Tro-tro’s are the main form of transport used locally across Ghana to get around; definitely an experience. Imagine travelling fifty to sixty miles an hour on dirt roads occasionally with huge potholes and then the driver will do a hair pin turn on a steep hill without batting an eyelid. It is like travelling on a roller coaster, so long as you like roller-coasters!

 

Anyway, we arrived in our destination town not really sure where to start. As is custom across Ghana we were greeted by local residents who where more than happy to suggest where to begin.

 

 We chanced upon a collective of weavers whom had all began learning how to weave cloth from a young age. As is the case in many craft industries in Ghana, skills are taught and handed down from one family generation to another. The colours and images or symbols common across Kente cloth each have associated meanings and or parables. Here are a few examples of the weaving we saw being made.

These lovely gentlemen are part of a *Kente Weavers Collective* - they explained to us how they work, the different qualities and thickness's of cloth and any special usages for different patterns woven into each Kente strip; they even allowed me to give it a try. Its a lot harder than it looks!